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Homemade Borscht recipe. Make this traditional Russian beet soup at home to warm you up on a cold winter's night or serve it chilled to cool off in the summer time.
Borscht is a traditional Russian sweet and sour beet soup. Yes, the woman who professed to hate beets is posting a beet soup recipe. And it is delicious.
I modified this recipe from The Yul Brynner Cookbook: Food Fit for the King and You, a marvelous book with Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Hungarian (Gypsy) and more recipes.
This can be served chilled in the summer time. But, I have to say, this Borscht was awesome steaming hot straight out of the pot. And filling!
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons butter or olive oil
- 1 cup onion (diced)
- 8 cups beef stock
- 4 large beets (peeled, sliced and cut in ¼)
- 2 tomatoes (cut into large chunks)
- 2 carrots (cut in ¼ inch slices)
- 1 celery stalk (diced)
- 1 small turnip (peeled and diced)
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- 1-2 tablespoon sugar or no sugar sweetener
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ pound diced cooked ham or beef (optional)
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, sauté onions in butter/oil until translucent. Add stock and all of the chopped vegetables.
- Simmer until vegetables are tender, approximately 20 minutes depending on how small you diced them.
- Add vinegar, sugar and bay leaves. Simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove bay leaves and add meat. Cook until meat is heated (about 5 minutes). Salt and Pepper to taste.
- Serve immediately with a scoop of sour cream. Or in summer, chill and serve cold with some sliced cucumbers that have been peeled and seeded.
Until next time, stay warm (or cool if you are visiting us in the summer) and happy eating.
~Audrey
Heisenglossy
Thanks for the recipe! Never had Borcht before but it looks yummy!
Ashley
We have a cold dill pickle based " borcht" every easter. I will have to try this. Visit from our SITSBLOGGING comment group!
Ann
Thanks for sharing this. I haven't made borcht in years. Last time I made it was with a foreign exchange student from Moscow. It was an incredibly fun night. I think I will do it again just for the nostalgia.